Celtic v Juventus Preview: Four stars to watch on the night, part one

ITALY'S greatest goalkeeper, one of the most exciting young midfielders on the continent, the 'Swiss Express' and an Italian with a very unusual CV are four players to watch as we look forward to the big Champions League clash.

THE OLD Lady has seen more than her fair share of world class footballers over the decades and the last time Juventus travelled to Glasgow, they boasted the likes of Pavel Nedved and Alessandro Del Piero in their line-up.

Tuesday’s match will be no different, with this Juve side balanced by some of the greatest players of the modern era of Italian football and some of Europe’s most promising young talents.

We’ll also be running a live blog all day, building up with all the pre-match news and then covering the game itself.

Celtic Park has been graced by some of football’s greatest talents over the past 50-or-so years at Europe’s top table and here, in part one of a feature, we pick out a fantastic four stars who are likely to shine.

Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images

Gianluigi Buffon

GIANLUIGI BUFFON

Age: 35

Position: Goalkeeper

Nationality: Italian

The greatest goalkeeper of the modern era? Perhaps even the greatest of all time? You get the feeling that such questions will make for heated debate when the 124-times capped Buffon eventually does hang up his gloves - although the 35-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. A key figure at Juve, both on the park and behind the scenes, he signed a two-year contract extension at the start of this year stating that he had his sights trained on the one big prize that’s evaded him at club level, the UEFA Champions League.

STEPHAN LICHSTEINER

Age: 29

Position: Right-back

Nationality: Swiss

The nickname ‘The Swiss Express’ should tell you everything about the experienced full-back's best qualities. Pacey, energetic and able to support in attack, Lichsteiner has established himself as a key player at Juve since his move from Lazio. The Swiss played in an Italian Cup-winning side in Rome and also starred for French side Lille after moving to France from Grasshoppers Zurich. He’s also chipped in with a few goals this season, scoring three in Serie A and will have a key role tomorrow, both in stopping Celtic’s roving front line and in troubling an Emilio Izaguirre who has struggled with an injury this past week.

ANDREA BARZAGLIA

Age: 31

Position: Centre-back

Nationality: Italian

The Juve number 15 could be described as a typical Italian defender in that he’s willing to roll up his sleeves and do the dirty work in defence, while making it seem effortless - but his career path has been a highly unusual one. First capped by Italy when starring for Chievo, Barzaglia was one of the most sought after defenders in Serie A a few years back but decided to head to the Bundesliga where he played every minute of Wolfsburg’s 2009 title-winning season. He has captained his national team and also played in Italy’s World Cup triumph and was named Serie A Defender of the Year in 2012 - also being named in last season’s top flight team of the year.

Giorgio Perottino/Reuters

Paul Pogba

PAUL POGBA

Age: 19

Position: Centre-midfield

Nationality: French

Yes football is a game dominated by giants, but karma doesn’t make a habit of discriminating and can even come back to bite the biggest clubs on the backside. Take the case of Paul Pogba for example. The midfielder left Le Havre in his homeland under a cloud, with his former club stating that Manchester United had effectively tapped up and pinched their player. United denied it, threatened to sue the French club and eventually won their case with FIFA. Fast forward three years and the English side are making the same complaints as Pogba agreed his switch to Juve. His reasons though were not financial, but career driven and so far Pogba has been proved right, playing over double the number of games at Juve than he managed in his whole time at Old Trafford. A real powerhouse in the heart of the park, who can just as easily defend as he can support in attack, Pogba will be a force to be reckoned with in Europe in years to come.

Previous Articles

WE WILL be building up to tomorrow's big Champions League match with a series of interviews and features, beginning with a look at how Juventus have performed on the domestic front in Serie A this season.